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Wood River Wells Running Dry, Residents Drilling Deeper

An increasing number of residents in the Wood River Valley are reporting that their wells are drying up.

This week's Idaho Mountain Express reports that drillers say the central part of the valley appears to be hardest hit, but complaints of a "dwindling water supply" have been coming in from throughout the valley.

"The water table is dropping out from under a lot of wells out there," Ray Freeman, owner of Wood River Drilling and Pump, told the Mountain Express. "The water table is going down drastically."

One homeowner said she's had to have her well deepened from 114 feet to 220 feet, at a cost of nearly $7,000.

Some are placing blame on continued development in the area, but hydrologists also point to two winters of low snowfall.

"In a dry year, the wells in these tributaries are going to get hammered," said Jim Bartolino with the U.S. Geological Survey.